Death of a Weasel
by Irish Thorn
Summary: Ron has been murdered. Who did it? One-shot.


Hermione picked up the toothbrush she had left in the toothbrush holder the last time she had stayed the night, about three weeks ago, and quickly gave her teeth a good brushing. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw contentedness, and maybe even a tinge of guilt. She hadn't been happy in her life until she and Draco Malfoy had run into each other almost ten months ago when she was leaving work.

She worked at the Ministry of Magic and he had been coming in for an interview to become the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. They had literally run into one another, neither looking where they were going in the crowded atrium. Draco had changed a lot since the war. Even during the war, anyone with two eyes could see that he didn't have it in him to be a Death Eater; and yet he still bore the mark, forever etched into the skin of his forearm for everyone to see.

The two had talked over coffee once he got the job, but not by choice since they had such a harsh past between them; him treating her like dirt, and her returning the favor. They had to because she was Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and all of the Heads had gotten together. They had been deep in conversation about how terrible of an idea it was to put Ronald Weasley up as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and didn't realize that all of the other Heads had gotten up and left them there.

The two completely missed the end of the work day and decided to finish their discussion at the Manor after hours. They had actually become friends over the course of the many conversations they had within the next month and a half, and began to talk about much more personal things: Hermione's unhappy marriage, Draco's unhappy childhood, Hermione's suspicions that Ron was cheating on her, Draco's suspicions that Harry Potter didn't really have any idea what he was doing and won the war completely by luck, etc. The next thing they knew, things were getting pretty heated between them, but Hermione didn't actually sleep with him until about four months ago. Since then, she couldn't get enough of the man.

She took one last look in the bathroom mirror and walked back out into Draco's room. He looked up at her and smiled widely. She was wearing an overlarge black and gray striped polo shirt with a pair of dark blue jeans that were rolled up to accommodate her height and were being held up by a belt. She looked so cute in his clothes! He told her that every time she wore them, but she never believed him.

"Let's go get something to eat." She was starting to feel uncomfortable and realized that she didn't really want Draco to stare at her that way. Whenever he stared at her that way they always ended up shagging in the most interesting places: the kitchen counter, the grand piano in the sitting room, the desk in his father's study, and the list went on.

"Okay, love." Draco pushed himself up to a stand, ignoring the way Hermione blushed at the term of endearment. He pushed open the door to his room and took her hand, leading her out the door and down to the kitchen. Once there, Draco politely asked one of the house elves to please make them some omelets. He knew they were her favorite.

Once they were seated at a small nook off to the side of the kitchen with their food in front of them, Draco glanced up at the witch sitting across from him. She looked a little green, maybe her stomach was upset for some reason. Before he could ask her how she was feeling, she jumped to her feet, ran over to the small bathroom that was between the kitchen and the formal dining room, and promptly emptied her miniscule stomach contents into the toilet bowl. Draco walked over and gently pulled her hair back. When she seemed to be done he got up and got her a wet wash cloth so she could wipe her mouth.

"Hermione," Draco had come to a conclusion about why she would get sick _before_ she ate, and sincerely hoped that he was wrong. Even though, if he was right, a lot of things would make sense: the constant crying, the fact she was always tired, etc.

"Hm?" She had yet to lift her head from the toilet seat where she had laid it after violently heaving up her small dinner from the night before.

"Are you pregnant?" He knew what she was going to say before she said that one little word, and yet he dreaded the single syllable more than anything in the world right at that moment.

"Yeah," she sighed. She should have known he would figure it out, even though she had gone through great lengths to hide it. She knew she shouldn't have come here last night, even if Ron would never catch her because he was out of town, like always.

"How, uhm, how far along?" He knew that there was no way that the baby was his. I mean, she _was_ married to the red-headed moron, Weasley. But he couldn't help but ask. It would mean so much if it was his baby.

"A-about fifteen weeks." Well that was a shock. Why wouldn't she share information like that _before_ now? It's not like he hadn't seen her within the last three months. Was she afraid of what he would do? Did she really think that he would hurt her in any way? Or her baby? No. He really loved her. And that meant loving her unborn child as well, even if it was half Weasel.

"I see." That was all he said. Nothing more. She felt the need to explain, knowing that he was hurting from the knowledge that she had kept this a secret from him for so long.

"Well Ron and I, we haven't been, uhm, intimate in a very long time." Hermione took a deep breath, steeling herself to finish. "It's yours. There's no way that it could be any one else's. I haven't let Ron touch me for almost a year." Her voice had started to crack at the mention of her husband, tears leaking down her cheeks.

"You're having my baby?" It seemed like a really stupid question, even as it was coming out of his mouth.

"Yeah." She smiled slightly, knowing that it was a huge shock to him.

"I'm going to be a father?" At this question from Draco, Hermione's smile disappeared. "No, Draco. I have to go back to Ron."

"Excuse me? Did you just tell me that you are going to take _my _child, and give it to _him_?" His voice was deceptively calm, indicating that he was getting ready to explode.

"Please, Draco. You know I love you, right?" His eyes flashed at this, but he inclined his head slightly at her admission. "You have to understand, I can't have your baby. This child will be Ron's. It has to be, or people will talk and that would ruin so many people's lives: yours, mine, Ron's, this baby's. You just have to let me do this."

"I don't know what to say. You claim to love me but you don't want my child?" He was putting on a good facade, but she could tell he was fighting to keep his emotions in check.

"Draco," she sighed his name sadly. "I would love to leave my husband and come be the mother to your child, but I can't. Because he found me first." And with that, crying silently, she stood up, walked out of the Manor, and apparated away.

* * *

><p><p>

"Fuck you, Ron!"

"No! I will not fuck me! Get back here!"

"Not this time." And with that she was gone. And he didn't have any idea where she went.

"Fuck!" He cursed loudly to himself. He had no idea where to start looking for her, but bloody hell, he was _going_ to find her! He apparated from where he was standing, naked in his bed room surrounded by women: Lavender Brown, the Patil twins, Hannah Abbot, and Pansy Parkinson. The last sound he heard was the sound of uncontrollable laughter from the women he had gotten drunk, drugged, threatened and paid to shag.

He looked around at where he had apparated himself to. Number 12, Grimmauld Place. He started banging on the door after discovering that it was locked. Finally, his baby sister opened the door a crack and glared at him from behind it.

"What do you want, Ron? You know you aren't welcome here." Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and glowered at the man who _used_ to be her brother. Then, as an afterthought, "Why are you naked?"

"Is she here?" Ron ignored his sister's questions and pushed the door open, crushing her back into the wall, tearing off into the house. He stopped after hearing her sharp intake of breath and got his first good look at her in over three years. She was very pregnant. "What did that bastard do?" They both knew that Ron was talking about Harry now.

"I'm pregnant, you arse! Now get out of my home!" Ginny shoved her wand in Ron's face, a particularly nasty spell on the tip of her tongue, when someone beat her to it.

"Avada Kedavra!" Green light blazed down the entrance hallway, hitting the tall ginger-haired man squarely in the chest. The owner of the curse continued down the stairs that he had stopped in the middle of and approached the front door. He knelt down to check Ron for a pulse, already knowing that he wouldn't find one. Then he stood, towering over the small red headed fire cracker that was staring at him with wide, unblinking eyes.

"Wha—what did you d-do?" Ginny was in shock at what she just witnessed: the murder of her brother. The man that had just done the unthinkable glared at her for her question. He smiled slightly and walked out the front door, leaving her to deal with the disposal of her family member. She kept staring at the back of the man, surprised he was there at all. No one had ever expected to see him again after what happened during the war.

After the man apparated, Ginny turned back to her brother, tears coursing down her face. No matter how much of a prat he was, he was still her brother. She took a deep breath and went to the floo to call her husband back from the Ministry.

* * *

><p><p>

Meanwhile, Hermione appeared in front of the Manor. She sprinted through the front door, up the stairs, and into the bedroom of the one man in the world that she knew could help her. But would he after what she had said to him the last time she saw him? She threw herself into his arms and cried her heart out against his chest. He had tensed up at first, but couldn't stop himself from pulling her down onto the bed and comforting the woman in his arms.

"It was horrible! All I could do was stare at first! He was doing things to them that he would never do with—," her voice caught on a sob and the tears started afresh.

"Shh." He stroked her head of curly hair, whispering comforting words the whole time that she was falling apart against him.

"You don't understand!" Hermione's sobs had been reduced to quiet gasps of air. "I can't ever go back! Never!" He could honestly say that he wasn't disappointed in the least.

"Move in with me." It was a statement, not a question, and he winced when he realized that it was quite stupid to blurt it out like that, but not entirely inappropriate considering the circumstances.

"Huh?" Hermione sat up and looked at him like he had completely lost it. That was never a good look to get from a woman. He needed to act fast.

"I love you. I want you to move in with me. So we can be a family." There. Surely that was better? He disregarded the pleading note that he heard in his own voice.

"Uhm... Well," she stuttered, not quite knowing what to say. "I don't really know what to say. I just walked out of my house, leaving my husband behind. I-I think it m-may be t-too soon."

"Come on, Hermione. Please? We both know that you've been wanting to leave for awhile, so you can be with me." The infamous smirk made an appearance at this point.

"Well, I guess temporarily... Since I don't really have anywhere else to go until—" She couldn't maker herself say anything more, he would know what she meant. Her father would be so disappointed if she divorced Ron. She just sighed and laid her head back down on the man's chest. He was right. She had chosen him a long time ago and now was the perfect time to start fresh. He held her tightly until she fell asleep. He couldn't imagine her leaving now that he got her to agree to stay, albeit temporarily. Well she would change that tune soon enough. He allowed himself the liberty of falling asleep with the witch he loved most in the world cuddled up against him.

* * *

><p><p>

Harry stepped out of the fireplace, running to his wife's side. "Ginny! Are you okay?" He pulled her into a hug, noticing how pale she was. He tugged her into the sitting room, gently pushing her down onto the settee near the doorway, but far enough away from the body in the hall.

"I don't know." She felt numb all over. Hermione left Ron. Ron came looking for her here. Ron was murdered. _He _did it. The same message kept playing over and over through her head. She was in shock. She knew she was, but she couldn't make herself care. Not even for her unborn child.

"Did you see who did it?" Harry had to get his wife to St. Mungo's, but he had to know first, it was his auror training, who was responsible for killing his former best friend. He held his wife's hand very tightly, trying to get her to focus on him, talk to him. She looked up at him, her mouth open to tell him, when she passed out. Harry picked her up, walked to the fireplace, and flooed to St. Mungo's. He _would_ get to the bottom of this.

* * *

><p><p>

Hermione awoke to the sound of soft snoring. She would know that snore anywhere: Draco. She smiled and burrowed down into his side. His arm came and wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her into him. She sighed contentedly. She hadn't wanted to be with Ron for awhile, she had been so upset last night because a lot of those girls had been friends in school. Well, not Parkinson, but they had been friendly enough when she had started spending so much time with Draco this past year. She felt the man that she was thinking about shift against her and she turned to face him, meeting his piercing gray eyes with her milk-chocolate brown ones.

"Good morning," he whispered, kissing her on the tip of her nose. She giggled, turning her face into his for a proper good morning kiss. They kissed deeply for a moment before she pulled back.

"Good morning," she whispered, as well, only it was because she was breathless from their kiss, not because the mood called for it. Draco grinned at her as he sat up and put his feet on the floor, stretching and causing his muscles to be on prominent display. Hermione couldn't remember him not wearing a shirt the night before, but blushed at where her thoughts were going before turning her back to him and standing up herself. She was still in her clothes from the day before. Draco seemed to notice the same time she did.

"I have something clean you can change into if you want to take a shower?" He questioned her, knowing that she would great fully take the offer of clean clothes.

"Thank-you." She stood, walking over to his dresser, already knowing where he kept his casual clothes. It was definitely not the first time that she had had to borrow clean clothes the morning after she had stayed over. However, she was usually naked, not covered with dirty clothing from the day before. She really didn't like the feeling of her filthy clothes and quickly made her way to the large, chrome bathroom attached to Draco's bedroom.

* * *

><p><p>

Harry paced up and down the corridor in front of Ginny's room in St. Mungo's. She was critical by the time he had gotten them there. He was growing increasingly worried about both her and the baby. He couldn't lose either of them. They meant too much to him.

After what seemed like forever, one of the healers finally poked her head out the door. "Mr. Potter? You can come in now." She had barely finished her sentence when he barged in. He looked over at the bed and saw Ginny looking so pale and weak, her protruding belly quite obvious. She smiled weakly at her husband because she could tell that he expected her to, but her heart wasn't in it and it looked more like a grimace than anything else.

"Ginny. I was so worried." Harry hugged his wife tenderly, kissing her forehead before stepping back to sit on the chair by the bed.

"Harry," Ginny sighed his name, knowing what it was he was going to ask her. And she was ready to answer this time; she had been given a _very _strong calming draught.

"Ginny, I need you to tell me exactly what happened, starting from the beginning." He never took his eyes from her face, he didn't want her to black out from the shock again.

"Okay, Harry." She took a deep breath, replaying the scene in her mind, willing herself not to get caught up in the pain of watching Ron die once more. "Ron was banging on the door. I didn't know it was him at the time, mind you, I just heard a lot of pounding and went to open it. I only opened it a crack, just like you told me. I know how you worry." They both smiled slightly at that. "Anyways, he was looking for Hermione and he shoved me back out of his way. Now, Harry, don't look like that, he didn't know I was pregnant." Harry had tensed up and looked like he wanted to murder someone when she said he shoved her back. "I was just getting ready to hex him and then send him home when I heard foot steps on the stairs. I knew it couldn't be you so I looked up just in time to see him..."

* * *

><p><p>

After she got out of the shower, Draco took Hermione to see Theodore "Theo" Nott, a friend of his from their Hogwarts days. He and Hermione had never even been close to acquaintances, let alone friends.

"Hey, Nott," Draco was here to do business, so shook his friend's hand and led Hermione to one of the seats in front of his desk.

"Hey there, Malfoy. What can I do for you?" Nott was all business, all the time, even in school. He was currently looking back and forth between him and Hermione when she finally spoke up for herself.

"I want a divorce." This blunt statement caused the lawyer across from her to raise his one of his eyebrows and look inquiringly at Draco.

"Is that so? Now, who might you be divorcing?" Nott seemed really confused. He had just heard an hour before their meeting that Hermione was in fact a widow. Could she really not know?

"Uhm... my husband. Ron Weasley?" She had honestly thought that everyone knew that she had married Ron. But maybe some people didn't know because they didn't care, like Nott apparently.

"Well, Mrs. Weasley, I guess I'm just not sure how you're going to divorce a dead man." Nott was looking back and forth between Hermione and Draco again. He had obviously drawn the conclusion that Hermione and Draco had an affair and Draco killed her husband. He was a Slytherin after all.

"Pardon?" Hermione looked like she was going to pass out so Draco put a comforting hand on her arm.

"Mrs. Weasley. You are, in all actuality, a free woman." Hermione wanted to cry at Nott's statement. She was free of her terrible marriage! Her shitty husband who had no feelings whatsoever for anyone other than himself! The terrible life that she had almost condemned Draco's baby to! She was free! She turned to Draco, a look of shock giving way to a small smile. She was sad for that little piece of Ron that was left from their time as friends at Hogwarts, relieved that it was Ron and not Draco, guilty that she was glad Ron was dead, and happy that she could be with Draco now.

"I think I'd like to go home." The statement was music to his ears. With another quick handshake with Nott, Draco pulled Hermione up from the chair she was still sitting in and led her away to the floo they had used to enter the building. She had a lot of stuff that she needed to get done. The first of which would be figuring out where her husband was.

Theo just stared at the door that the unexpected couple had come in and left out of in the span of all about ten minutes. He shook his head and smiled, at least the over proud Malfoy was happy.

* * *

><p><p>

Harry was once again pacing up and down the hallways of St. Mungo's. Ginny had promptly fallen asleep after revealing the identity of Ron's murderer. Harry knew what he needed to do. But he didn't have a concrete plan of action. Maybe he should just go over there and talk to him. Perhaps he would see reason and either confess directly to him, or accompany him to Azkaban for a nice little stay. Or perhaps Harry should pretend it never happened. But he wanted to at least find out his reasoning for killing Ron.

With his mind made up, Harry finally walked off to the floo room and shouted his destination loudly into the fireplace, causing green fire to flame up around him, and disappeared.

* * *

><p><p>

"Draco! I'm not marrying you!" Hermione and Draco had been arguing since they got back from Nott's office. Draco said that she was free to have a life with him now and he would marry her in a heart beat if she would let him; while Hermione said that even though she wasn't happy with Ron, she couldn't just turn around and pretend that their life together had never happened.

"I'm not saying right now! Just soon." Draco was looking at her with pleading eyes, begging her to reconsider.

"Maybe someday, but right now I think we need to find Ron and figure out what happened. Do you think that Nott would know anything more?" Hemione hoped that Draco would just let her push the conversation away for now. It was really important for her to find her husband's body. After watching her closely for a minute or two, Draco decided to allow the subject change, for now.

"He probably doesn't know much else, but whomever told him about Ron's death must know something." Hermione had to smile at this, Draco was really trying to make her happy, even if he thought he knew what would do that better than her.

"How can we go about finding out who told him?" Draco walked into his father's study and directly over to the fireplace. He took a handful of floo powder, threw it in the fire, put his head in the flames that roared up and shouted the address for the law firm. Hermione stood behind him, trying to hear his conversation with Nott. She strained her ears but could only figure out that it was someone that didn't work in his office. Draco pulled back out of the fire place and looked over his shoulder at Hermione.

"We are about to have a visitor." Draco walked over and sat in his father's seat behind the desk, patting the arm chair for her to sit on, intending to give them a look of unity and strength. Just as she was getting settled, she could only look so dignified in clothes that were sliding off of her, the floo roared to life again and a dark-haired, dark-skinned man stepped out. "Zabini." Draco nodded at the man who was his best friend in school, and who was now one of the Ministry's top aurors.

"Malfoy." Blaise Zabini was a man of few words and just nodded in Hermione's general direction, not even looking at her. Draco knew that he would have to ask direct questions to get Blaise to answer.

"How did you find out?" Since they all knew what the topic of the conversation was, there was no need for preliminaries.

"I was in the room when Potter got the call from his hysterical wife." Blaise sat in one of the chairs facing the desk and awaited the next question.

"Why was she hysterical?" Draco had felt Hermione tense up at the mention of the Potters. They had been really close in school but, she had confided in him, they had drawn away after Ron had shown up at their wedding drunk and accused Harry of sleeping with Hermione and Molly Weasley right after the minister had asked if there were any objections. Draco personally found that hilarious, but would never admit as much out loud.

"She had just watched her brother be killed." At this admission, Blaise turned to gauge Hermione's reaction to his blunt statement. There was a flicker of sadness in her eyes but she blinked it away as fast as she could.

"Did she see who did it?" Draco really hoped that it was someone who could get themselves off scotch free.

"I didn't hear it, if she did." Blaise stood up to go, knowing that the impromptu interrogation was over.

"Thanks, Zabini. You've been a real help." Draco shook hands with the Italian wizard and allowed him to leave via the same fireplace he had just stepped out of.

"Now we go see Ginny?" Hermione managed to look happy and anxious at the same time, and that just made his heart constrict with love for the woman.

"Yes. Now we go see the Potters." Draco took Hermione's hand and led her out of the Manor. They apparated to the front stoop of Number twelve Grimmauld Place and Draco raised his hand to knock.

* * *

><p><p>

Harry decided to stop off at home before he went to confront Ron's murderer. He was just getting ready to floo away when he heard the knocking on the door. He cursed to himself and went to see who it was this time. He flung the door wide open and was surprised to see Hermione standing there, accompanied by Draco Malfoy. Why was she with him? He raised an eyebrow at them in silent question, causing them to look at each other before Hermione cleared her throat, garnering Harry's undivided attention.

"Harry. Where's Ron?" She sounded so forlorn that Harry sighed deeply and motioned for them to follow him into the house. He pointed them to seats in the front parlor before sitting himself. There was no time for formalities, therefore he didn't offer any refreshments of any kind.

"I took care of the body. But I was under the impression that you left him?" Harry would answer her questions, but in return he wanted answers. Hermione agreed with the unspoken concept.

"I caught him cheating on me. It was the last straw. I couldn't stay." Harry nodded in understanding. "Where's his body?"

"I took it to the Burrow and buried him myself near the garden. Molly was going to have a wake for the family and close friends sometime soon. Why are you with Malfoy?" Harry asked the question that was bothering him the most.

"We've been seeing one another for awhile. He's the closest friend I have." Harry noticed the pointed look Hermione sent him, knowing she was referring to the fact that he hadn't been there for her at all in the past three years. "Who k-killed him?"

"I'd rather not say. I was going to go confront the murderer myself when you showed up. Perhaps you'd care to join me?" Harry extended the invitation to Draco, knowing that he probably didn't care at all about Ron and wouldn't take him up on the offer.

"I'll come with you, Potter. But you better leave her out of it, she's expecting." Harry's mouth dropped open at Draco's announcement. One, the man who hated Ron most actually wanted to come see who killed him. Second, Hermione had left her husband while pregnant; very unlike her.

"Yeah, come on. We'll side-along." Harry stood and led the way to the front door. He gave Hermione a pointed look and told her to made herself some tea, they'd, hopefully, be back soon. With a resigned sigh, she did as she was bid. She didn't know where they were going and she could definitely use the calming properties of a nice cup of tea.

* * *

><p><p>

"Are you sure about this, Potter?" Harry ignored the question, having been asked it eighteen times within the past five minutes. "This doesn't sound like him at all. And I think I of all people would know that."

The two walked in the house, down the hall, and knocked on the door. The man inside called out a short 'come in' and the two walked in and stood by the door, waiting for the man to acknowledge their presence. When he looked up, Harry jumped right into the silence.

"Why did you kill him?" The man continued to scrawl on the piece of parchment he had been writing on before the other men had walked in. He stood up and seemed to think before answering.

"I only wanted to keep my family together." The man took a step closer.

"That doesn't make any sense. He had nothing to do with you." Harry was confused and didn't try to hide it. The man took another step closer.

"He had everything to do with me. I wasn't going to see my only grandchild raised by a blood traitor." The man was now only a few short steps from the young men.

"What are you talking about?" Harry was definitely losing his patience. The man took another step and was now directly in front of Draco.

"He means Hermione. She's pregnant with my child, not Weasley's," Draco stated, he stared at the man, both of them with the same blond hair and gray eyes, Draco's were much more expressive and capable of displaying emotion, while the older ones were far colder.

"But what did you hope to accomplish?" Harry was very confused.

"I only wanted my son's happiness. Surely you're aware that my son means more than blood status?" It was a rhetorical question that Harry answered anyways, with a nod. Draco gave the man a smile, he had meant well, and it was really sort of nice of him to kill for the sake happiness for once.

"I'm not going to be taking you anywhere. Nor will I be informing Hermione of who killed her husband. I think that what you did was justified and they were going to divorce anyways. The reason that I am not taking you anywhere is because I don't see Hermione wanting anything to do with your son if she ever found out about what you did. This will stay between us." Harry decided that after not being there for Hermione at all for the past three years, he could do her this one mercy. He had spoken his piece and he was prepared to tell his wife and former best friend that he couldn't find the culprit, and obliviate his wife if he had to. That may even be better because all of that stress could harm the baby. He left the Manor and apparated back to Grimmauld Place, Draco right behind him. "We got a bad lead. The guy we found wasn't our murderer."

Harry went back to Ginny in St. Mungo's, telling her what happened and carefully wiping her memory. This whole mess could easily be swept under the rug.

Meanwhile, Draco took Hermione home and told her that they would probably never find the man who killed Ron. She seemed surprisingly okay with it having gotten what she wanted, freedom from her terrible marriage, even if it was at such a high price.

* * *

><p><p>

Two Years Later

Hermione Weasley looked in the floor length mirror at the woman staring back at her. She was wearing a long, antique white dress made of old fashioned, hand made Italian lace. It was simple, and flowed perfectly down her curves. She smiled at the image, allowing a few tears to slide down her cheeks, but not enough to ruin the subtle make-up accentuating her natural beauty. A red-headed woman wearing a long, dark green dress, holding the hand of a small, auburn haired little boy and carrying another small boy on her hip, walked up to stand beside her.

"You look beautiful, Mione." Ginny smiled at her friend. They had gotten close again after Ron's death and now Ginny was going to be Hermione's maid of honor.

"Thank-you, Ginny." Hermione grinned at her friend and the two hugged.

"Where's Perseus?" Ginny was referring to Hermione's little blond son who was now a year and a half old.

"Lucius has him. He's been so good with him. I never knew he could have feelings of any kind." The two women shared a laugh when there was a knock at the door of the room they were in. A dark-haired man poked his head in the room and smiled at them.

"Are you two ready?" Harry Potter had agreed to escort Hermione down the aisle since her father didn't agree with remarriage so had gone on a safari trip instead. Hermione nodded and took a deep breath.

"Yeah." Ginny took her two sons out to where her mother waited right outside the door. Then she came back in, picked up the bouquets of white roses outlined with silver paint and baby's breath all wrapped in silver ribbon, handed one to Hermione, and walked out the door, preceding her best friend and husband down the aisle.

"Hermione?" Harry was fidgeting nervously with his tie.

"Yes, Harry?"

"I know that Malfoy and I have had our differences in the past, but that changed with the war. We were all friendly enough to one another, having them over to our place, us all going there for dinner; people really can change. And now, I would almost count Malfoy as a friend. I love you, Mione. You've been a sister to me from the beginning and I am so honored that you wanted me and my family here after everything that happened between us and Ron." Hermione winced at the name of her dead former husband. "Good luck with this new life you're starting. Ginny and I will always be here for you and your family." At the end of Harry's little speech, the bridal march had started playing. Hermione was already crying as she took Harry's arm and the two walked out of the room, out the back door of the Manor, and up the main pathway of the extensive gardens.

When he saw her, Draco's eyes lit up and a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. She was so beautiful, he had never seen any other woman look as beautiful as his bride did right at that moment. Neither broke eye contact for the whole time that she walked down the aisle. When they reached the Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was residing over the ceremony, Harry turned Hermione towards him, kissed her on both cheeks and joined her left hand with Draco's right.

She turned slightly, to hand Ginny her bouquet and caught sight of her son in his grandfather's arms, fast asleep. She hardly heard anything that was said but somehow managed to say what was expected of her. She barely felt the ring that was slid onto the fourth finger of her left hand, after being passed over by Draco's best man, Blaise Zabini. The ceremony went by so fast that the next thing she knew, Kingsley was saying "I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Draco Malfoy" and she was walking hand-in-hand up the aisle with her new husband to loud cheering.


End file.
